1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to systems and methods for locking a wiper/printhead using a lock mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Certain types of devices, such as printers or copiers, create an image on a medium, such as paper, by ejecting ink through orifices formed in an orifice plate attached to a printhead onto the medium, or a drum that transfers an image formed on the drum to the medium. In devices that use the drums, a latent image is first formed on the rotating drum and ink is then ejected from the printhead onto the drum. The image, which is eventually transferred to the medium, is in the shape of the latent image formed on the rotating drum.
In devices that eject ink from the printhead, repeated use of the device allows contaminants to form. These contaminants may consist of ink or other debris in the orifices and the orifice plate of the printhead. Accordingly, the printheads must be periodically cleaned by a device, such as a wiper, to remove the contaminants and obtain high quality printed images. One such example of a wiper/printhead is found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,117, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirely.
In some devices with the wiper/printhead configuration, the drum and the printhead are positioned so that they face each other with a space defined between them. The wiper is disposed in the space between the printhead and the drum, and the wiper is positioned so that the drum is located on the opposite side of the wiper from the printhead. However, during the printing operation of the device, the wiper must be removed from the space to allow the printheads to eject ink onto the drum. Removing the wiper from the space creates an unhindered path for the ink to make contact with the drum.
The wiper is connected to mechanisms that move the wiper away from the space defined by the printhead and the drum. Therefore, the wiper is able to move from a position between the printhead and the drum to a position such that the wiper is not between the printhead and the drum and vice versa. When the wiper is moved away from the space, the drum and the printhead are allowed to face each other without the wiper between them.
In devices with the wiper/printhead configuration, mechanisms allow the printhead to move closer to the drum. During the printing operation, once the wiper is moved away from the space, the printhead mechanisms allows the printhead to move closer to the drum in order to eject ink onto the drum. The printhead mechanism allows the printhead to move toward the drum even when the wiper is still located in the space between the printhead and the drum. During the cleaning operation, the wiper is not removed from the space but the printhead mechanisms allow the printhead to approach, then contact the wiper for cleaning.
The wiper is generally long and narrow and spans the length of the printhead. During the cleaning operation of the devices, the wiper generally traverses the surface of the printhead, for example, from an upper position to a lower position in the vertical direction. The mechanisms that allow the wiper to move away from the space is used to perform the wiper's traversing movement. The wiper is moved to clean the printhead by a wiping motion.
The wiper is moved during the wiping operation from the upper position to the lower position by a driving motor of the printer/copier. The driving motor also drives all the other mechanical systems of the printer/copier. A clutch of the wiper mechanism selectively engages the driving motor in order to move the wiper mechanism so that the wiper mechanism can traverse the surface of the printhead and move away from and into the space.